• Basic Writing questions is not a crit forum. All crits belong in Share Your Work

Scrivener, yWriter, or other?

Status
Not open for further replies.

JRDickson

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 18, 2012
Messages
89
Reaction score
7
Location
Buffalo, NY
Thanks for the tips. Unfortunately it didn't work for me. The same thing happened again. I get a message about 'runtime' and that I should contact administrators. So I've given up now and uninstalled it again. Been fiddling around with yWriter instead, and I'll probably get used to that and find a way to use it that suits me. :)

You should ask them what environment it uses--runtime error means an environment/framework issue...you may not have Java or C++ or whatever Scrivener uses.
 

Scribhneoir

Reinventing Myself
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 1, 2006
Messages
1,165
Reaction score
134
Location
Southern California

Ruth2

Tam, na Koncu Drevoreda
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 4, 2009
Messages
8,910
Reaction score
490
Location
In your dreams...
I tried Scrivener. It drove me nuts. I didn't find it intuitive at all, but then I don't find my MacBookPro intuitive either.

If I could take a week off to learn Scrivener, maybe I'd figure it out. I'm on a deadline right now and just can't spare that much time.
 

mrsvalkyrie

Hounds of Justice
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 30, 2011
Messages
517
Reaction score
46
Location
Toms River, New Jersey
Website
realmoffear.wordpress.com
I use Scrivener for organizing. I have a Netbook and find no problems using it, but that's probably because I've never seen the difference on a desktop, haha. I do all my writing in MS Word. I was using yWriter and did love it, but it just wasn't for me. When I tried the trial of Scrivener, I loved it within minutes and bought it with my next paycheck.

There's another program I've used in the past (free trial) called Write It Now. That one was great, too. But it had a LOT of features. My OCD demands that I use every feature in all the programs I download, so I had to uninstall that one if I ever wanted to get any writing done!
 

calieber

Couth barbarian
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 7, 2006
Messages
787
Reaction score
58
Location
BK.NY.US
In a concurrent thread someone talked about "novel-writing software" and I thought "well, that's wrong." Novel-organizing software (or fiction-organizing software), perhaps. But as I said, I don't see how it's different from Excel.

I wouldn't use novel-writing software if it did exist, I'd be afraid it would ask for a cut.

My experience comes from trialling Liquid Story Binder; this may have been a failure of implementation rather than of concept.

Maybe I'm an unusually organized person? In any sense of the word you like.
 
Last edited:

PeverellSister

Registered
Joined
Dec 11, 2011
Messages
19
Reaction score
1
I used to pretty much swear by Microsoft Word, but I do use other programs now. Word is pretty much always my default for writing drafts, but then I'll put it into yWriter (or I'm using Scrivener now, purely for the flashcard funcion, which is insanely useful for editing drafts) to organize it. I never had the patience to do proper headings in word, so finding my chapters was always a pain when I wanted to organize.

So yeah, Word for writing, yWriter for organizing, and Scrivener for writing scene-by-scene and outlining.
 

MsDashwood

Getting back to writing...
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 6, 2012
Messages
306
Reaction score
19
Location
North in Europe

Scribhneoir

Reinventing Myself
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 1, 2006
Messages
1,165
Reaction score
134
Location
Southern California
It looks like they haven't found a solution for it yet.
Thanks for the tip, though.

Sorry it didn't work out. I thought there was a link to update C++ in that thread that fixed the problem. Maybe I linked you to the wrong thread.:Shrug: I know there was a lot of discussion about runtime errors when the update came out, which is why I waited until it was fixed before I downloaded the new version myself. It's too bad it doesn't work for you. Scrivener is a great program that I love more and more every day.
 

Brightdreamer

Just Another Lazy Perfectionist
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 22, 2012
Messages
12,975
Reaction score
4,510
Location
USA
Website
brightdreamersbookreviews.blogspot.com
It looks like they haven't found a solution for it yet.
Thanks for the tip, though.

Guess I've accepted I won't be using it.
I'll check in there now and then and see if there is a solution to that problem :)

Have you looked into WriteWay Pro, to see if it's any more cooperative with your machine? I find it useful, and it seems similar to Scrivener.
 

readitnweep

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 4, 2010
Messages
304
Reaction score
15
Location
Shrieking in my own shack
I use Word. I tried yWriter and I tried a sample version of Scrivener but thought there was nothing I couldn't do in Word or on paper. Organizing I either do in a spreadsheet or, most of the time, on index cards that I can spread out and see all at one time and easily change. It works great for me.
 

lizmonster

Possibly A Mermaid Queen
Absolute Sage
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 5, 2012
Messages
14,535
Reaction score
24,104
Location
Massachusetts
Website
elizabethbonesteel.com
I do most of my writing in Pages on my iPad. Yes, with the virtual keyboard. Because apparently I am a masochist.

I organize/compile with Scrivener on my laptop.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.